Above Us Only Sky

By: Michele Young-Stone

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Prudence Eleanor Vilkas was born with a pair of wings molded to her back. Considered a birth defect, her wings were surgically removed, leaving only the ghost of them behind. Growing up in Los Vientos, Florida, Prudence meets her long-estranged Lithuanian grandfather and discovers a miraculous lineage beating and pulsing with past Lithuanian bird-women.

Above Us Only Sky is the story of Prudence and the Vilkas women as the novel spans centuries. Most of all, it is a story of mutual understanding between the old and young, a story of survival, and most importantly a story about where we belong in the world.

©2015 Recorded by arrangement with Simon and Schuster, Inc. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"The beautiful prose in Michele Young-Stone's Above Us Only Sky flies off the page. A stirring meditation on resilience, the ties that bind us to our past, and what it means to have wings." (Tracy Guzman, author of The Gravity of Birds)

"Rich with themes of love and loss. Young-Stone has spun a beautiful tale on the cusp of magical realism, but with 100% pure magical prose." (Heidi Durrow, New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky)

" Above Us Only Sky is a raw, beautiful, unforgettable book that folds unfathomable horrors and unfathomable love into a story of incredible power. Young-Stone is a master writer, and her deft control of this novel's many moving pieces puts her in the highest echelon of our craft. Yet at the center, literal and figurative, of this novel is a story so brilliantly simple and deeply moving, you'll forget you are reading a book. This story shook me to my core, and I can't wait for the rest of the world to experience it." (Lydia Netzer, best-selling author of Shine, Shine, Shine and How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky)

good story, well narrated

If you could sum up Above Us Only Sky in three words, what would they be?

Interlocking, Depth, Character

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the old man. He reminded me of my grandfather.

Have you listened to any of Cassandra Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. But I thought she did a wonderful job bringing each character to life.

It kept me spellbound.

Once the author developed the story & started to get into developing the characters, I was hooked. Great stories and how the all came together at the end.

Great story

I enjoyed this reading. The story was thought-provoking. The readers performance was great. I listen as I sew for my business. I couldn't wait to get to work each day so I could hear the next chapter. I related to the symbolism in the book. We all have our wings clipped in one way or another. Many of us need our family's stories to know where we come from. With that knowledge we can begin to write our own.

Too windy, too long too disjointed

The overall concept is Good, but the plot is just a bit to disconnect.
There is a certain intangible qualities as if the author would like you to be haunted by the story. Somehow it comes up short.

I'm So Glad I Listened to It!

How a book can be lovely and yet deal with the atrocities of war doesn't really make sense. However, I found this to be a lovely story and well narrated. It is so worth listening to and I recommend it.